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By the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had completed the twelve stories for The Strand Magazine that are gathered together in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, he was already growing tired of his most famous creation, but the financial incentive to continue was too great. So began the second series of stories, known as The Memoirs; these introduced such notable characters as Holmes' indolent brother, Mycroft, and Holmes' most dangerous adversary, Professor James Moriarty, the 'Napoleon of Crime'. The collection included such stories as 'The Adventure of the Resident Patient' and 'The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter', which Doyle would list later as amongst his favourites. It was to Moriarty that was delegated the task of ending the career of the world's finest consulting detective in a final, fatal encounter at The Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland in the concluding tale, 'The Final Problem'.

'Surely no man would take up my profession if it were not that danger attracts him.' In The Casebook, you can read the final twelve stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his brilliant detective. They are perhaps the most unusual and the darkest that he penned. Treachery, mutilation and the terrible consequences of infidelity are just some of the themes explored in these stories, along with atmospheric touches of the gothic, involving a bloodsucking vampire, crypts at midnight and strange bones in a furnace. The collection His Last Bow features some of Sherlock Holmes' most dramatic cases, including the vicious revenge intrigue connected with 'The Red Circle' and the insidious murders in 'The Devil's Foot'. The title story recounts how Sherlock Holmes is brought out of retirement to help the government foil a German plot on the eve of the First World War.These two fascinating sets of stories make a glorious farewell to the greatest detective of them all and his erstwhile compa

'Doctor Watson, Mr Sherlock Holmes' - The most famous introduction in the history of crime fiction takes place in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, bringing together Sherlock Holmes, the master of science detection, and John H. Watson, the great detective's faithful chronicler. This novel not only establishes the magic of the Holmes myth but also provides the reader with a dramatic adventure yarn which ranges from the foggy, gas-lit streets of London to the burning plains of Utah. The Sign of the Four, the second Holmes novel, presents the detective with one of his greatest challenges. The theft of the Agna treasure in India forms a catalyst for treachery, deceit and murder. With these two classic novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four, you have the brilliant foundation of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Reading pleasure rarely comes any finer.

Translated by Irene Testot-Ferry. The Little Prince is a classic tale of equal appeal to children and adults. On one level it is the story of an airman's discovery, in the desert, of a small boy from another planet - the Little Prince of the title - and his stories of intergalactic travel, while on the other hand it is a thought-provoking allegory of the human condition. First published in 1943, the year before the author's death in action, this translation contains Saint-Exupery's delightful illustrations.

When the Cuthberts send to an orphanage for a boy to help them at Green Gables, their farm in Canada, they are astonished when a talkative little girl steps off the train. Anne, red-headed, pugnacious and incurably romantic, causes chaos at Green Gables and in the village, but her wit and good nature delight the fictional community of Prince Edward Island, Canada, and ensure that Anne of Green Gables continues to be a firm favourite with readers worldwide. This edition also includes Anne of Avonlea which continues Anne's story. Now half-past sixteen but as strong-headed and romantic as ever, Anne becomes a teacher at her old school and dreams of its improvement. But her responsible position and mature ambitions do not prevent her entanglement in the scrapes that still seem to beset her in spite of her best intentions. Thoroughly charming and amusing, with a supporting cast of colourful and endearing characters, both books will enchant and entertain readers, guaranteeing that Anne's adv

George Orwell is a difficult author to summarize. He was a would-be revolutionary who went to Eton, a political writer who abhorred dogma, a socialist who thrived on his image as a loner, and a member

Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, He

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the ‘Jazz Age’.Through the narration of N

Pride and Prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English Literature, is an ironic novel of manners. In it the garrulous and empty-headed Mrs Bennet has only one aim - that of

With an Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen and the W

Treasure Island is the seminal pirates and buried treasure novel, which is so brilliantly concocted that it appeals to readers both young and old. The story is told in the first person by young Jim Ha

Far from fading with time, Kenneth Grahame's classic tale of fantasy has attracted a growing audience in each generation. Rat, Mole, Badger and the preposterous Mr Toad (with his `Poop-poop-poop' road

Anne Shirley is an eleven-year-old orphan who has hung on determinedly to an optimistic spirit and a wildly creative imagination through her early deprivations. She erupts into the lives of aging brot

Mary Lennox was horrid. Selfish and spoilt, she was sent to stay with her hunchback uncle in Yorkshire. She hated it. But when she finds the way into a secret garden and begins to tend to it, a change

The magical Peter Pan comes to the night nursery of the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael. He teaches them to fly, then takes them through the sky to Never-Never Land, where they find Red Indi

The Little Prince is a modern fable, and for readers far and wide both the title and the work have exerted a pull far in excess of the book's brevity. Written and published first by Antoine de St-Exup

The perfect gift for any lover of the Brontë Sisters. The box set contains seven books, together creating a comprehensive collection of the Brontë Sisters' best and much-loved works. They are bautiful

Robin Hood is perhaps the greatest of all British folk heroes. Henry Gilbert’s book assembles all the disparate elements of the legend into an elegiac and detailed version of Robin’s life and adventur

The Wonderful World of the Wizard of Oz, which the the Library of Congress named as ‘America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale’, is one of the great works of children’s literature.The stor

he Little Prince is a modern fable, and for readers far and wide both the title and the work have exerted a pull far in excess of the book's brevity. Written and published first by Antoine de St-Exupé

Each boxset contains seven books, together creating a comprehensive collection of Austen’s best and much-loved works.Beautifully packaged in a ridged, matt-laminated slipcase with metallic detailing,

Each boxset contains seven books, together creating a comprehensive collection of the notorious detective’s best cases and adventures.Beautifully packaged in a ridged, matt-laminated slipcase with met

This volume contains a generous selection of the tales of H. G. Wells, some of them famous, some forgotten.They demonstrate his immense imaginative energy, his originality, his prophetic genius, and h

With an Introduction by Joanna Trollope. Trollope's delightful novel recounts the fortunes of Doctor Thorne, an upright and principled country doctor, and his niece Mary. She falls in love with Frank

This revised and expanded second edition brings together the uncollected short fiction of the poet, writer and religious philosopher Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). Of the fifty-four stories in the pres

eng With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue Elizabeth Barrett Browning was such an acclaimed poet in her own lifetime that she was suggested as a candidate for the Poet Laureateship when Wo

Hello, I'm Raggedy Ann. Welcome to my world. I'm going to tell you about myself and this book.Some grown-ups think I'm just another rag doll with floppy arms and legs who has been nibbled by the mice

Parade's End is the great British war novel and Ford Madox Ford's major achievement as a novelist. Originally published as four linked novels between 1924 and 1928, it follows the story of Christopher

During his life, Geoffrey Chaucer (born c.1340) was courtier, diplomat, revenue collector, administrator, negotiator, overseer of building projects, landowner and knight of the shire. He was servant,

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was one of the brightest stars of the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was his most important book. Firs

His body was pressed against the wall at the head of the bed, and the face was a mask of agonised horror and fruitless entreaty. But the eyes were already glazed in death, and before Francis could rea

An invaluable companion to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain's inimitable portrait of 'the great Father of Waters'. Part memoir

This volume brings together Virginia Woolf's last two novels, The Years (1937) which traces the lives of members of a dispersed middle-class family between 1880 and 1937, and Between the Acts (1941),

Virginia Woolf's second novel, Night and Day (1919), portrays the gradual changes in a society, the patterns and conventions of which are slowly disintegrating; where the representatives of the younger generation struggle to forge their own way, for '...life has to be faced: to be rejected; then accepted on new terms with rapture'. Woolf begins to experiment with the novel form while demonstrating her affection for the literature of the past. Jacob's Room (1922), Woolf's third novel, marks the bold affirmation of her own voice and search for a new form to express her view that 'the human soul ...orientates itself afresh every now & then.It is doing so now. No one can see it whole therefore.' Jacob's life is presented in subtle, delicate and tantalising glimpses, the novel's gaps and silences are as replete with meaning as the wicker armchair creaking in the empty room.

With an Introduction by Kathryn White. 'He saw her wounded, and bleeding to death; saw her ashy countenance, and her wasting eyes ...turned piteously on himself, as if imploring him to save her from t

With an Introduction and Notes by Nicola Bradbury, University of Reading.Henry James's last completed novel, The Golden Bowl, is the story of two flawed marriages. The lives and relationships of Maggi

Fully revised Second Edition. With a new Introduction and Bibliography by Dick Collins. The exploits of Sweeney Todd, 'The Demon Barber of Fleet Street', have been recounted many times in plays, films

With an Introduction by Anthony Briggs. Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood.Russia in the 1840s. There is a stranger in town, and he is behaving oddly. The unctuous Pavel Chichikov goes around the local e

With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. 'I read it and reread it, and wept and laughed and trembled with horror which at all times assails me yet'. With its strange, imaginative blend of horror,